When You're Around
by itsuckstobeunder21
Summary: After that summer they spent together at Camp Rock, two years ago, Mitchie Torres and Shane Gray are America's Sweethearts; that's why nobody has to know they broke up 6 months ago
1. Sing for You

**A/N: I own nothing... just this idea I got. Hope you like it.  
I want to thank LaPaige for being my Beta, and kcltarchiepattzgirlz for being my first reader!**

"Sing for you"

A sold out concert in Los Angeles, California; the opening concert of Connect 3's summer tour, with Mitchie Torres, the blossoming pop star, as the opening act.

Flashes of light that collide with the darkness of the night and the screams of impatience, from hundreds of fans, waiting for their favorite band to come out on the stage.

"This is amazing!" Mitchie whispered to herself, looking from the corner of the stage. As the opening act, she would have to perform in a matter of seconds. The stage manager made her a sign and she ran happily to the center of the stage.

"How are you doing tonight?" she shouted out in her microphone as the crowd roared with excitement "You already know this song; "Who will I be?""

The crowd just wouldn't stop shouting, encouraging her, as she excitedly ran from one side of the stage to the other, singing all the songs of her first CD. It had taken her one year and some little help from Shane to get a contract with Hollywood Records and she could hardly believe her dream was coming true: her first single had been on the charts the last five weeks and she had several Golden records reminding her how good the sales of her music were going.

"Thank you; you're amazing!" She shouted out before leaving the stage after presenting Connect 3.

Quickly, Shane Gray and his band mates took their places in the stage; the frenzy while Mitchie sang was pretty poor compared to the excited screams that these three boys caused to come out of all their fan girl's mouths.

"How did you like Mitchie?" Shane asked to the audience with a smile and the audience clapped and yelled in approval; he and Mitchie had been publically proclaimed a couple and people all over the country had found them the most adorable couple of the world of music. "So, we're gonna start with "Play My Music"!"

One after another, Connect 3 played their hit singles, even those "cookie cutter pop star" songs that had made them one of the most famous bands, of course until that moment when Shane announced, as closing act, their song "Gotta Find You".

"I'm calling our dear friend Mitchie Torres to join us in," he announced and the girl would come out again, waving her hand happily.

The slow music started and Shane gave Mitchie her space to start singing her part of the song.

"I've always been the kind of girl  
That hid my face  
So afraid to tell the world  
What I've got to say  
But I had this dream  
Bright inside of me  
I'm going to let it show  
It's time  
To let you know  
To let you know

This is the real, this is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
Gonna let the light  
Shine on me  
Now I've found  
Who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
This is me

Then the lights revealed Shane too, approaching Mitchie.

You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you  
You're the missing piece I need  
The song inside of me  
I need to find you  
I gotta find you

At this point, Mitchie and Shane were facing each other, their hands intertwined.

This is the real, this is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
Gonna let the light  
Shine on me  
Now I've found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be

This is me  
You're the missing piece I need  
The song inside of me  
This is me  
You're the voice I hear inside my head  
The reason that I'm singing

Now I found who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
This is me.

When the song finished, Mitchie and Shane are only inches away from each other and the audience squealed in excitement for a kiss, they thought, would be their next move.

"Thank you, guys; you've been awesome!" Mitchie shouted on the microphone and left the stage, still holding hands with Shane. They didn't kiss, and once they left the stage they push each other's hand away with disgust.

"Nicely sung, Mitchie, but you still have to control your voice; I think I'm deaf for life," Shane mocked her, throwing himself on the couch of their dressing room.

"Oh, I don't think that's much of a problem," Mitchie responded with anger, rising up and increasing voice tone, "You never listen to anybody that's not you, anyway!"

Nate and Jason intervened and stood between them when Shane stood up to face Mitchie. "Guys, please, chill!" Nate pleaded to them both before Shane would say something he would regret.

"Tell your friend! He started it!" Mitchie shouted, trying to get rid of Jason, who was holding her by the arms so she wouldn't go and slap Shane.

"You're acting like five year olds!" Nate shouted exasperatedly. "Shane, take back your comment; you know Mitchie did really well tonight!"

"And you, Mitchie." Jason imitated Nate's tone, "you know that Shane's no longer a stuck up jerk!"

She gave Jason a brief disbelief look before huffing and turning away. "The thing is, Jason, he IS a jerk, and that's exactly why we broke up!"

The boys watched her go, before turning both to looks at Shane.

"Dude, are you ever going to tell us what happened?" Nate asked. He and Jason had the same questioning look upon him (Shane wasn't really sure if Jason's questioning look was about the question Nate had made him, or just because he really had no idea what the hell was going on, as usual).

He shook his head in response "It's just over; does it even matter?" he threw himself on the couch again and put on his headphones, before he could pretend to turn on his iPod. He wasn't in the mood for music, but he was less in the mood for questions about Mitchie and how they had became shouting machines of hostility.

---

**(3 months earlier)**

"I'm sorry, guys, but there's no way to break the deal, you both signed for a summer tour together; Mitchie as opening act" Hollywood Records' attorney explained them.

Mitchie and Shane were sitting in front of the man's desk, both in chairs they had dragged apart from the other. Mitchie was sitting very straight and stiff, keeping her arms crossed in her chest, trying to keep her eyes on the lawyer to avoid Shane's.

He, on the other hand, had thrown himself on the chair with not the slightest delicacy, and even when he tried to avoid looking at Mitchie, he held the laughter off when watching her stiffness. The smirk on her face made her look like an angry dog; he had seen it several times before when they had had little boyfriend/girlfriend arguments.

However, this was no time to laugh. They had asked the lawyer if there was a way to be set free from the contract they had signed a month ago that committed them to make a summer tour together, which meant three months traveling around the country, pretending they hadn't had that horrible break up just a week ago.

"What are we gonna do, then?" Mitchie asked, trying to remain calm, but the slight high tone she had used in the first two words showed she was desperate.

The lawyer gave them both a sympathetic look and Shane felt like punching him in the face. "Don't worry; we are aware that your "romantic situation" is not the best, so we decided to make a plan that you could follow easily."

The idiotic words from the man hit Shane's ears and he felt the urge of standing up and leaving the room, but he knew that Mitchie would agree to anything the man would propose, after all, it was _her_ career which was in jeopardy. If Shane would decide to just walk away from the contract, Hollywood Records would call him five minutes later to offer him a better contract, with a lot of money involved, as he was one of the biggest pop stars of the time.

Mitchie was a newcomer, and even when her duet with Connect 3, "This is Me/Gotta find you", had been a real hit, he knew it would be harder for her to find another chance to get a contract.

He was sitting in that office for her, he would do anything that the "idiot man" would ask him, for her. Because he did not yet hate her, even though he knew Mitchie did hate him.

"…while you're not on tour, you can just make a few public appearances, pretending to be a happy couple; take some Starbucks, go shopping, you know what I mean…"

Just as Shane had predicted, Mitchie nodded and threw him a begging look. A very brief begging look that made him sit up straight as his spine felt something weird when her eyes laid on his. He nodded too "that's it? I'll just have to buy her a Cappuccino once in a while?"

"As I said, Mr. Gray" the lawyer nodded "we are aware you are not in the best of terms with each other…"

"It's fine by me" he shrugged his shoulders and stood up to walk off the office, as he had been wishing for hours. "I guess I'll see you."

He turned to face Mitchie standing in the door frame. She gave him a nod and he could see a slight smile. He felt something in his chest, which he had to suppress after reminding himself that it had been just polite, not really well intended.

---

**Ok, here was chapter 1, hope you liked it; leave me a review and make my day!**

**And, if you are a Smitchie fan, make sure to check out kcltarchiepattzgirlz's fics, specially "My Past and My Future Collide"!!**


	2. Going Down with the Ship

**A/N: Oh, I'm really excited; I got like 20 alerts!  
This second chapter is supposed to be a continuation of last chapter's flashback, with a flashback of its own.**

"Going Down with the Ship"

"What do you think?" Mitchie asked Shane, while she modeled for him in a new sundress. They had gone shopping together on Rodeo Drive, and needless to say about fifty paparazzi were gathered outside the store to take pictures of the famous couple.

"That color's disgusting! It hurts my eyes!" He faked a disgust face, while covering his eyes with his arm. Mitchie actually looked really nice, but he couldn't tell her how nice it looked on her. It was better this way. She would believe him better if he said he hated it than if he admitted he really liked the way it hugged her body.

She rolled her eyes and turned around to check her reflection in the full body mirror behind her "it's a keeper then…"

He threw himself back in the chair where he was sitting and tapped on the floor with his foot. He hated shopping, at least when he wasn't shopping for him, anyway. Now add his psycho ex girlfriend and you've got something unbearable for any man alive.

Mitchie had gone away to try on some more clothes and when she came outside to model for him, she would keep on asking him "what do you think?" and rolling her eyes every time he made a remark on how ugly the clothes were.

"Shane, can't you at least try?" she asked him, desperately, half and hour later, when Shane's responses got reduced into simple shoulder shrugs.

"I'm here, at least" he replied, almost groaning as he stood up from the chair. He was feeling dizzy with all those paparazzi flashing their cameras. He had to get out of there "You done yet? Or will you take the whole shop?"

She shook her head with annoyance and ran to change back into her clothes with blood shot eyes; it took her a little longer to come out, passing by Shane, avoiding looking at him. He knew she had been crying in the dressing room and felt a little remorse, but shook it off, convincing himself that Mitchie had cried desperate tears because she hated him and couldn't stand him, not sad tears for their broken relationship.

The drive back to the house they had been sharing with Nate and Jason was pretty silent, except for a casual plastic noise made by Mitchie's shopping bags when the car would stop on a red light.

They didn't even look at each other when they entered the house, holding hands for the paparazzi that gathered outside the house.

Shane left himself drop in his bed and rubbed his face with his palms in desperation

He hated the situation; why couldn't he grieve like a normal person at the end of a romantic relationship? He couldn't be a normal dude, just avoiding his ex girlfriend like any other sane human would; he was attached to her by a contract, a stupid contract that was meant to bring Hollywood Records a whole lot of money.

The thing he hated the most was the fact he could (and would like to) avoid all this nonsense just by going and telling Mitchie he still loved her and he didn't want to be the annoying bastard he had been lately.

But Mitchie had been really clear the day she broke up with him…

----

**(A couple weeks ago)**

He had pretended to be asleep when Mitchie entered his room at 6 a.m. that day. He hadn't slept one single hour due to all the excitement he was holding in his chest: it was their first year anniversary and he had something really special prepared (she obviously had something very alike, given she had woken up early to crash his bedroom).

Their relationship hadn't been the best lately; ever since they had signed that contract a week ago, they would both spend less time with each other and more time with their producers, discussing the terms of the CD, so this was the perfect opportunity to change it all.

He heard her opening his closet and moved some things inside, holding his laughter; she was obviously looking for the present he would give her… women and their curiosity! He switched position in the bed and groaned noisily just to scare her. It worked, because she ran outside before he 'woke up'.

He went to the studio that day, but Nate and Jason excused him early, given he looked like he had taken 7 Red Bulls for breakfast because of the way he kept asking "Are we done yet?" and tapping his foot nervously.

Mitchie was eating some lunch when he came back from the studio "Good morning!" he greeted her happily, but when she looked up to face him, she didn't look anything like happy.

"What happened?" he asked her, sitting beside her in the table; he reached with his hand to clean off a lonely tear she had in her cheek.

She just rolled her eyes and stood up from the table, before he could even touch her and cleaned the tear herself, after throwing her plate in the sink "it's not what happened; it's what's happening now…" she said angrily "I can't believe you forgot it!"

Shane let out a giggle "so, that's why you're upset? I didn't forget it…"

She puffed "I can't believe it; I always have to do everything! You can't even remember a small day; a date that's supposed to be important!"

"Mitchie, I'm telling you; I didn't forget it!" he stood up and caressed her by the arms, trying to calm her down "I know exactly what this day means to both of us"

She rolled her eyes, which were blood stained and full of tears she tried to suppress "I'm gonna take a walk."

He saw her walking outside the house with worry, but he knew that once she saw the surprise he had for her, she would jump around in happiness and this entire thing would be forgotten.

---

Mitchie sat in the bench of the park, rubbing her eyes, trying to fade away the tears she didn't want to cry. This was so typical Shane: messing up everything and beg for forgiveness later, like in Camp Rock when he had assumed she was a liar and then asked her to start again after Final Jam.

He was always putting everything before her and then he would do something really sweet and would whisper the nicest words in her ear to make her better. She knew it was stupid feeling so mad about an anniversary he had forgotten, but it was really the last drop to fall on her cup; it had over flowed now and unless she would take sometime to clear her mind and relax, this would just turn into hell for her.

And by relaxing and clearing her mind, she meant to just stay away from Shane, for good.

---

Shane waited for Mitchie after he had set up the surprise in the T.V. room. He had gotten a small video montage of the lake in Camp Rock playing in the giant LCD screen and a prompt plastic shady tree. All that combined with some bird chants CD that he had borrowed from Jason made an almost perfect replay of the view and atmosphere when he first sang "Gotta Find You" for her.

He was really excited to see his girlfriend's expression when she came back and he would realize he hadn't forgotten her, not this time.

She crossed the door and he heard her muffled and tired walking inside the house, towards her bedroom; he stood up quickly and intercepted her "Mitchie, I've got something to show you!" he spoke to her.

"I gotta talk to you first" she responded him, she didn't look any happier than she had been earlier; he let her drag him towards the living room with a confused face and sat beside her in the couch

"I think we should break up, for good".

Shane felt as if he had swallowed a rock as something really heavy dropped inside his stomach "What?"

"I'm sorry, Shane…" she tried to explain him "I just feel like… like I've reached this point, where I just got nothing more to give."

He sank his face in his hands, Mitchie looked sad, but determined and he knew she was for real; how could this happen right now? It was the first time he actually had done something right and she wouldn't even see it, obviously. He held back his tears, it was not a man thing to do to cry; if Mitchie wanted to leave him, well, so be it.

If Mitchie said there was not more to give, he obviously didn't have to give anything for her either; no more explanations, no more "I'm sorry" and specially no more nice Shane, preparing surprises for her and borrowing CDs from Jason…

No more "Nice Shane".

"Whatever" he stood up, quickly "it's not like I need a girlfriend at this moment; I've got a record to make and a whole bunch of other things…"

He didn't expect Mitchie to answer; he just walked out towards the T.V. room.

Once there, he started kicking the plastic tree repeatedly; he wanted to break everything down. He knew that'd cost a whole lot of money, so he just kept kicking on the tree till his feet were sore. That was when he let himself fall on the leather couch in front of the T.V. screen.

He laughed bitterly at the image of the lake from Camp Rock, before turning it off, there were no tears in his eyes anymore and he felt relieved…

---

Mitchie just stood there sitting, thinking of Shane's words

"_Whatever, it's not like I need a girlfriend at this moment; I've got a record to make and a whole bunch of other things…"_

She could hardly believe it; this was the worst thing he had ever told her. WHATEVER?! That was it? She had really meant NOTHING at all for him?

She sighed and stood up. She was tired and sad; she might as well go take a nap.

---

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Learn to Let Go

**I'm Back! Hope you all like this chapter; I really think I had to let you guys rest from "flashbacks", because I will bomb you with them in the next chapters.**

"Learn to Let Go"

Nate and Jason looked at the now silent Shane as he laid on the couch with the earphones of his iPod, feeling not the slightest remorse about yelling at Mitchie just minutes before.

"What are we gonna do? They won't stop fighting and it's not even the opening concert yet!" Nate asked Jason with desperation.

His band mate shrugged his shoulders "Dude, what do I know?"

Nate rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving Jason alone, looking at Shane shamefully.

After a while Shane returned him the look; Jason was pretty creepy when he wanted to be. "What?" he asked him.

"Do you need a hug?" he asked back, with a sympathetic smile. He wouldn't wait for his answer and just held him really tightly inside his arms "feel better?"

He shook his head, trying to push him away "please, I need air!"

Jason finally backed off, giving him a hurt look "I'm sure Mitchie will appreciate my efforts to make her feel better" he announced with disdain and left: in the same direction Mitchie had gone minutes before.

Shane watched Jason leaving, really confused. Since when had Jason become "Doctor Love"? And since when he had started offering Mitchie to help her "feel better"? He pictured Jason giving Mitchie one of those breath-taking (not in the good way) hugs and felt jealousy rising up his chest.

He stood up quickly to run after Jason, but stopped once he remembered he had no businesses with Mitchie anymore and, as he had told him off just seconds ago, either with Jason. And anyway, he didn't have to be jealous; Jason and Mitchie? Please, that wouldn't happen in a million years!

---

"Mitchie?" Jason poked his head slowly into the door of the girl's private tour bus; he knew she was there, because he could hear her sobbing inside.

"Yes, Jason?" The girl that was in her bunk showed her face to Jason; he walked slowly inside, as she had allowed him too, and took a seat in a bunk in front of her and cleaned her tears with his hand.

"I'm sorry for Shane shouting at you earlier" he apologized, looking down "I just thought I had to support Nate and…"

"It's ok" Mitchie interrupted him "I shouldn't have let his comment bug me… I mean, I've known for a while that he hates me"

"Shane doesn't…" Jason started, but then bit his tongue "well, maybe he does hate you, but just a little bit."

Mitchie let out a bitter laugh "You really are good at making people feel better."

"Yeah, right?" he stated with pride, he hadn't noticed Mitchie's ironical tone "I told Shane you WOULD appreciate my efforts!"

She laughed again

"Well, one last hug and I'll leave you to sleep; we got that press conference tomorrow…" Jason stated, happy that he had managed Mitchie to laugh. He gave her a friendly hug and left the tour bus.

---

"Mitchie, Shane; over here!" the paparazzi kept on shouting as they had to fake smiles for the pictures they took of them.

"Nate, how's life with the love birds? Don't they make you feel a little abandoned now they spend so much time together?" a journalist asked. Shane and Mitchie turned to look at him as he seemed to be debating in his mind.

"Well, not really" he responded after a while "they're not all over each other all the time"

The crowd of paparazzi and interviewers laughed at his statement "well, that's a relief! You're both very young!"

"… and immature in some cases." Shane whispered, to make sure only Mitchie would hear, while they faked laughs and nodded.

Mitchie didn't respond to him. She had decided to act more lady-like and let him feel as bitter as he wanted; she wouldn't let him carry her on.

"So, Mitchie, how much did Shane influence your songs? We see that most of the tunes in your CD are actually love songs…"

"Oh" Mitchie struggled to find an answer "well… you know, in some moment, finding Shane was like a dream come true. I mean, who doesn't fantasize about a celebrity crush?"

Shane, who had been looking straight at her and paying attention to every word she said, felt slightly weird at listening to her calling him a "celebrity crush". He passed an arm over her shoulder and added "She's the sweetest thing, right?"

With a general "aw!" of the presents, the photographers started flashing pictures of the cute couple hugging.

"So, a "celebrity crush", huh?" Shane asked in Mitchie's ear, with anger. She looked up at him taken aback.

"What did you want me to say?" she asked back at him, in a whisper.

"It doesn't matter" he retorted, even angrier than a second before and took his arm off her shoulders; he left the table, excusing himself.

He couldn't believe Mitchie was such a cold-hearted bitch! Was it really ALL he had meant for her? She was happier she had hooked up with one of her favorite band's singer, than she was of having met the REAL Shane Gray?

"Where are you going Shane?" some paparazzi followed him.

"I'm a little tired" he responded to them before shutting the tour bus door on their cameras. He dropped himself in his bunk and closed his eyes.

---

"WHAT DID YOU MEAN BACK THERE?" Half an hour later, Mitchie crashed inside the bus, waking him up.

"What?" he asked, rubbing his eyes "Mitchie, listen, this is the first time I sleep in weeks; whatever you want to discuss, I'm sure can wait…"

"No!" she responded, kicking hard on the floor "you've been a dick for months and keep repeating that you hate me and want me to die!"

"I didn't…" Shane tried to calm her down.

"Oh, you did! You made my life a living hell, and now… you dare to ask me if I never thought of you as something else than a celebrity crush?" she shouted desperately "YOU SAID "WHATEVER, I DON'T NEED A GIRLFRIEND!" she imitated Shane's voice tone "You said you didn't care…"

Shane watched her, falling into the bunk in front of him, with tearful eyes and looked down; he hated watching her cry, but he hated most that HE had made her cry.

"Mitchie…" he tried to put his hand in her shoulder, but she moved away.

"You're an asshole Shane!" she shouted him, standing up from the bunk "you have no idea how much I wish this tour to end, so I don't have to see your face EVER AGAIN!" she ran outside the tour bus and closed the door behind her with a little bit too much force.

Shane looked down on his shaky hands with shame; he had made her cry for the hundredth time in six months, but this time, she had said the words he always feared to hear from her mouth; EVER AGAIN.

For the first time since they had broken up, he allowed tears to fall down his face and sunk himself back in the bunk, covering her shameful face with his pillow.

He remembered all the times he had wasted, bothering her and calling her names, instead of telling her what he really wanted her to know, which was that he wanted her back.

**A/N: You think I suck because it took me so long updating? well, leave me a review and I'll try my best to avoid it: and if you like Smitchie, you should check out my other fic "Shane Gray: Man Overboard!"**


	4. Do you Remember?

**A/N: wow, its been a while... but now i'm back and with a new chapter! Once again, thanks a lot to LaPaige, my amazing Beta Reader! :)**

"Do you remember?"

(One year, three months and a day ago)

"Would you like to be my girlfriend, Mitchie?" Shane asked the question, looking down and digging a small hole in the sand with his foot. It was the end of Final Jam and also the end of her second summer at Camp Rock, and after the great friendship they had held during the year he felt like it was the right thing to do. He liked her and she liked him back, he was sure of it when she nodded happily to answer his question.

"What took you so long?" she asked him, throwing her arms over his shoulders happily.

"I'm sorry" he responded, embracing her back firmly as the smell of her perfume filled his nose, making his smile growing bigger.

There was a moment when they would just hold onto each other, afraid of pulling apart; they felt it was right, after all the time they had been together. All they wanted was to be together a little more and possibly a little closer too. Mitchie bit her lip, thinking. She felt it was the time to do it, her time to finally let it out.

"Shane… I love you" she whispered in his ear.

Shane's mind whirled when he heard Mitchie's words; suddenly he felt panic rising up his body, if she had told him she loved him, she must obviously be expecting an "I love you" back.

He let go off her, with a shocked look on his face and the second later, he realized he had made a huge mistake as Mitchie's eyes filled with tears. "No, please, don't cry! I'm an idiot… I swear, I love you back, it's just…"

"It's ok, Shane, you don't have to explain anything to me" she interrupted him as a silent tear crawled down her cheek "actually, it was my fault, I just thought you…"

"I do love you!" he tried to fix it "I swear I do…"

Mitchie covered his mouth with her hand to stop him from talking "if you did then it wouldn't have been so hard for you to say it; it's ok, Shane, I shouldn't have said it, you just asked me if I wanted to be your girlfriend."

She took her hand off his mouth slowly, with sadness. She really had thought that Shane would have a completely different reaction, instead of panicking she expected a passionate reply of "I love you too, Mitchie".

But she guessed it had only been her who had cherished all those nice moments they had had together.

Shane saw another tear coming down her face and came closer to wipe it off with his hand "I'm sorry, Mitchie; you're right… I cannot tell you that I love you right now" he explained to her, shortening the distance as he walked slowly towards her "but I might say it, in time… if you'd like to stick around and wait for a while…"

He leaned his head down to hers and gave her a small, soft kiss.

"It's a start." she let out a bitter smile and shrugged her shoulders when Shane pulled apart.

---

(Present Time)

"You see the blonde girl?" Jason asked Nate "she was_ fine_, I swear she was checking me out…"

"Nobody was checking you out, Jason" Nate mocked him with a laugh.

"Of course, she was!"

"She was paparazzi, Jason! She WAS checking you out, but not in that way." Nate patted his friend in the back and followed him in to the tour bus.

Jason pouted, disappointed, and took his shirt off. "Whatever; I'll go take a bath and get ready for the show tonight."

He was in his way to the bathroom, when he heard Shane's grim voice speaking "I need your help guys."

Nate and Jason turned to look towards Shane's figure, thrown in the darkness of his bunk. "What happened man? We thought you were sleeping."

Shane stood up from his bunk, revealing to his friends his bloodshot eyes and his messed up hair.

"You look like shit, Shane, what happened?" Nate asked him, walking closer to him

"I want her back," he mumbled. "I need her back; you gotta help me!"

"Shane you're freaking me out" Jason said and took him by the arm, to make him sit back in his bunk "just calm down, dude, and for Christ's sake, explain us what the hell is going on."

"Yeah, man, because for the first time ever I am as clueless as Jason." Nate sat in the bunk in front of Shane and, if things had been normal, he would have laughed at the look Jason sent him.

"Mitchie said she doesn't want to see me again" he explained to his band mates after taking a few deep breaths and cleaning the tears off his eyes "and I know it's my fault; I've been a dick to her all this time, but the thing is… I wanted to get back to her all along."

"Why didn't you just say it?" Nate asked his friend, confused.

"She broke up with me" he responded "it would've been stupid of me to try to get her back; if she had made the choice which meant she didn't want me anymore…"

"But pissing her off wasn't exactly a good way to get her to like you again, Shane." Jason stated.

"You think I don't know that?" Shane looked at Jason angrily, which made his friend jump back a little bit. "Of course it wasn't a good way to make her like me again! Didn't you hear? She just said she doesn't want to see me again!"

"You don't have to shout at Jason" Nate tried to calm his friend down, a little shocked at the outburst. "He's right; you pushed Mitchie away all this time, don't take it out on him"

Shane sank his head in his hands desperately "sorry, Jason."

"It's ok, dude" Jason patted him in the back "I know you're going through something… so, you said you wanted us to help you?"

"Help him, how?" Nate intervened "don't you realize Shane blew away Mitchie and she doesn't want to see him again, ever? Honestly, Jason, I've always known you to be a bit slower than the average human, but…"

"Mitchie didn't really mean it" he corrected Nate "the Shane she wished to never see again is the one that acts like a jerk to her"

Nate and Shane exchanged looks, impressed by Jason's unexpected words of wisdom.

"What? I've been talking to Mitchie lately" he explained his band mates, shrugging his shoulders.

-----

The tears in Mitchie's eyes escaped, running down her cheeks in what seemed to be an endless cascade. She could've been crying for hours now as her eyes were all red and swollen but she really hadn't been counting, all she knew was that the tour bus she was riding in was moving already, towards the next city she and Connect 3 would be playing for the tour.

She had turned on her portable DVD with the volume in the highest to disguise underneath it the sound of her sobs. Too bad "My Best Friend's Wedding" was already over and the final credits were rolling down, along with a very corny song that really didn't help her lighten up.

The sound of the telephone ringing pierced her ears and she rolled in her bed around, to check who was calling; her mother.

"Not now, please" she whispered, turning her phone off and dropping it down on her bed again.

The tour bus stopped suddenly and she sat in her bed in a halt; she knew she had been crying for a while, but they couldn't have already reached the next city.

She jumped off when someone hit her door. She was scared - something might have gone wrong; maybe they had been pulled off by cops… maybe they were being robbed!

"Mitchie!"

She eased her worries when she heard Jason's voice between the hitting. She tried to fix her hair real fast and cleaned off the tears of her face before running on to open the door for Jason.

"Hey!" he greeted her cheerfully "Why aren't you answering the phone?"

"Oh!" she allowed Jason inside and looked over her shoulder towards her bed, where her phone lay, switched off. "I couldn't… I was watching a movie…"

The bus started the engine again when Jason closed the door behind him. He quickly spotted the DVD player on the table and took the box beside it "My Best Friend's Wedding? That explains the tears…"

Mitchie blushed as he passed a gentle finger along her cheek "well… uhm…"

"It's ok" Jason assured her, sitting down on the table and motioning for her to sit down too "If it helps in any way, you're not the only who's been crying…"

She rolled her eyes, dropping herself on to the chair in front of him "you're not here to talk to me about Shane, right? Because if you are, I'm gonna have to kick you out and I'm not waiting for the bus to stop."

"You wouldn't do that, Mitchie; you could go to jail" he teased and she couldn't help to smile slightly: Jason really knew how to talk to girls… if only Shane had been a little more like him. "So, he finally came to his senses and admitted how much he misses you" he continued, guessing that Mitchie's brief smile allowed him to talk about Shane.

Her smile faded and he guessed she wasn't very pleased to hear from him, but she didn't really say anything; just looked down on her hands and breathed deeply.

"Well, at least you haven't dropped me off the bus" Jason tried to make her smile again, but after he noticed it hadn't worked he decided he might as well go on about Shane "when Nate and I came back to the tour bus he was crying and shouting out that you never wanted to see him again… well, maybe he wasn't shouting, but he was pretty upset."

"I don't see why it should bother me" Mitchie tried to fake being uninterested in Jason's words "he made his bed and now he has to lay in it."

He knew that this was the time for him to give up, so he changed the conversation theme "now, what do you say we watch something happier? I know you still have "Dumb and Dumber" hidden somewhere" he proposed with a smile and stood up to look for the movie. He felt a little hopeful though - had seen through Mitchie and her fake disinterest, which meant that there was still a chance for Shane.

**REVIEWWW!!!**


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